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Spring Cleaning Your Digital Office

Spring Cleaning Your Digital Office

IT Systems are a lot like buildings. Once a building is erected, after plumbing and electricity is installed, its purpose is defined (e.g. residential or commercial) by its interior configuration. Windows, doors and locks are installed to secure it and keep things in or out as appropriate and then personalised to taste by the décor and furnishings. The occupants move in and enjoy the benefits that the building and the sum of its parts provide.

Businesses and their IT infrastructure evolve in a similar manner. Starting with an empty space, power, network cabling and internet connections are installed. Servers and network are setup and connected, then secured with a host of security systems. Desks are built, computers installed and once ready, the workforce move in and through their day-to-day activities, business objectives are achieved.

Just like a building, IT systems need continual monitoring and routine maintenance to keep them safe and secure and running optimally. IT Managers will understand the need for regular and ongoing maintenance but are often unable to find the time to step back and review everything.  This is also true for small business owners who may have set up the IT systems at the formative stage of the company and now manage IT in a part-time capacity whilst trying to focus on the primary business activities. Both understand the value that maintenance and monitoring bring to their businesses but seldom have the time to do anything other than firefight with day-to-day IT operational issues.

Continuing with the building analogy, organisations should perform a “spring clean” of their IT infrastructure.  The accumulation of systems and objects over time, either replacing old or adding new capabilities in the form of software or hardware, can create a sprawl of systems, which becomes even harder to manage.  All too often, old systems and configurations are not fully decommissioned and slip from the scope of management due to resource constraints.  Often, these forgotten systems become the weakest link in an organisation’s system, and without regular maintenance, they can result in vulnerabilities with the potential to have catastrophic effects upon an organisation in the event of unauthorised access, such as a cyber-attack.

Additionally legacy systems create constraints which thwart future progress, leading to more complex engineering and maintenance tasks when new systems are introduced or upgraded, ultimately leading to increased costs further down the line.

To maintain optimal operational capacity, ensure a secure environment and to avoid additional financial burden at a later stage, it is imperative to always keep infrastructure lean and efficient.

So, how does an overworked and under-resourced IT team tackle this problem? 

In the same way buildings are maintained by external professionals, with electricians performing regular PAT testing or certified gas engineers servicing boilers annually, organisations should partner with an external IT service provider to perform an annual comprehensive systems audit. 

By performing a deep dive health check of systems, from checking the health of emergency power and backup batteries for critical infrastructure, to the individual configurations of end user operated devices and everything in between, we can provide a detailed health report, asset list and most importantly a detailed inventory of vulnerabilities and risks which may be buried in the current configuration.

When strategically positioned in the year, an annual audit provides IT managers and business leaders alike, with key business intelligence to aid budget and capacity planning, by helping them to understand where investments and improvements will be required in the following 12-month period.

IT systems require regular servicing and maintenance to prevent failure. Not because of bad builders or engineers but simply due to the ageing of the systems, constant use and the evolution of the workloads we put on them.

So don’t leave it to chance and hope the boiler doesn’t break down when you need heating the most. Get in touch with Zuri today to arrange your annual health check and test your systems with us, rather than gamble on the risk of system failure or, worse, leaving the testing to hackers who will exploit vulnerabilities rather than warn you of risks.

Author

Neil MacGregor

Category

Infrastructure Management

Date

March 28, 2024